Green dollars

The Aspen Skiing Co. announced this week that it will partner with the Bonneville Environmental Foundation to sell 100 percent green-certified SkiGreen tags to guests who wish to offset their travel-related global warming emissions to and from the resort with wind energy. SkiGreen tags can be added to a season pass for $20, or guests can purchase a single-day SkiGreen tag for $2. “We see this as a customer-service program,” said Auden Schendler, the Skico’s director of environmental affairs. “In this case, it’s not a hot lunch or a free cookie, but an opportunity to protect the future of the sport.” SkiGreen is a program of the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is supporting the development of clean, sustainable and domestic renewable energy across North America. Each $20 SkiGreen tag represents one megawatt-hour of renewable power generation and offsets approximately 1,400 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions, primarily measured as carbon dioxide. Each $2 tag represents 100 kilowatt-hours of renewable generation and is the equivalent of approximately 150 miles driven. Participants in the program will receive acknowledgment of what their contribution represents, along with SkiGreen stickers and a coupon for Aspen/Snowmass services. In addition, BEF has committed to reinvest 20 percent of all proceeds from sales of SkiGreen tags in Aspen into the community for new local renewable energy projects through a partnership with the city of Aspen’s Canary Initiative. To learn more about the partnership, go to http://www.canaryinitiative.com.Avalanche report Avalanche danger is moderate at and above treeline, and low below treeline. Shallow triggered avalanches will be possible in wind-loaded and crossloaded areas today as a result of our new snow and moderate west winds above treeline. NE-E-SE-facing terrain will see most of this activity. The older weak layers in the snowpack are still a concern, with human-triggered avalanches possible on all terrain facing NW-NE-E. On these slopes, a variety of slab and weak layer combinations in the older snowpack will keep triggered avalanches possible for many days to come. For more information, visit http://www.rfavalanche.org or geosurvey.state.co.us/ avalanche.